Mother 3
Mother 3 (マザースリー Mazā Suri) is a console role-playing game developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc. and Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance on April 20, 2006. It has currently been released only in Japan. It was designed and directed by Shigesato Itoi, with music by Hiroshi Kanazu, Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka. It is the third, and allegedly final game in the Mother video game series. Mother 3 tells the story of Lucas, a young boy, and his family who journey the Nowhere Islands to save the islands from an invading army and its leader, introducing new technology and infrastructure to the islands. Up until its release, the game remained near the top of Famitsu's most wanted games list. Immediately before its release, Mother 3 was the most wanted game in Japan according to Weekly Famitsu. The title began as a project titled "EarthBound 64", and a direct sequel to the Mother series' second installment, EarthBound, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. EarthBound 64 was in development for many years before the project was finally terminated on August 21, 2000. Mother 3 was announced in June 2003 during a Mother 1 + 2 television commercial. Although details of its development were kept secret, it has since been made known that EarthBound 64 was reworked into Mother 3. In 2006, Mother creator, Shigesato Itoi, declared that there were no plans for further installments in the Mother series, and because no official English version has been announced, a fan translation has been started and is fairly far along. However, the people involved in this translation have said that if Nintendo announces an official translation, they will immediately cease their work, indicating that their sole goal is to ensure that the game is translated to English. Gameplay Mother 3 starts out very differently from the first two Mother games. The game is set up into eight different chapters, much like Dragon Quest IV. Instead of focusing on a group of children, it chronicles the story and adventures of Lucas and his family, and the story switches perspective during each chapter. For example, the first half of the game is played as Flint, Duster and Salsa, but the rest of the game is played as Lucas. The Nowhere Islands also change dramatically due to the influence of the Pig Mask Army, transforming from a simple low-tech rural society to a more modern twenty-first century infrastructure that's similar to the first two Mother games (hence the game's theme of nature vs. technology). The game also features a more traditional top-down RPG perspective, instead of the oblique projection used in the first two games. Once again, the game retains the Dragon Quest-style battle system Mother and EarthBound had (although this time at a much quicker pace), but Mother 3 adds an extra twist in the form of the music combo system. Depending on how well the player presses the A button in-sync to the lead enemy's "theme" (each enemy has their own respective beat, some even possessing variable tempos), he or she can perform up to 16 hits of damaging combos on the game's enemies. The game also has an option of letting the player practice music combos on enemies they have already fought, once they gain a certain item. Tempos can also be more easily heard in the form of a "heartbeat" when the enemy is asleep. Enemies are still visible on the field, and can still be approached from behind for a surprise attack (along with the extra added detail of seeing behind an enemy). The game also retains the rolling hit point (abbreviated as HP) and psychic point (abbreviated as PP) odometers from the previous game, enabling the player to heal before the counter rolls to zero. In Mother 3, the hit point odometer scrolls more slowly than the previous game and can be slowed further by defending — however, unlike EarthBound, the player will still be technically 'dead' if the hit point odometer scrolls to zero. Another new addition is the ability to run, by holding and releasing the B button the player can not only reach areas quicker, but also smash into breakable objects and also stun enemies significantly weaker than the party, replacing the previous game's ability to instantly defeat weak enemies without entering battle. Mother 3 also abandons saving the game by phone in favor of Save Frogs, which are abundant and appear at various areas in the game. Currency (which doesn't come into play until Chapter 4) comes in the form of Dragon Power (abbreviated as (DP), which the player can deposit or transfer from Save Frogs. Plot Characters Story Mother 3 is set in the Nowhere Islands two centuries after the events of EarthBound. Chaos ensues after an invasion by the Pig Mask Army, named after the uniforms, which resemble pigs, and its leader, Pokey Minch, the "Pig King". They slowly construct a police state, while experimenting on the land's flora and fauna, and introducing new technology and infrastructure to the islands. The various chapters record the life of a boy named Lucas and his family and friends, banding together to rid the Nowhere Islands of the Pig Mask Army. The game opens with Flint, who, after a fire in the forest, finds out that his wife Hinawa and his sons Lucas and Claus haven't come back to the village yet. He then sets out to look for them with the help of his dog, Boney, and Duster. He soon finds out his wife has died, leaving him to raise their sons. After Claus goes missing to kill the Drago that killed his mother, Flint, with the help of Alec, Hinawa's father, goes looking for him. Claus ultimately lost the battle and was killed. Flint could not find the body. From here, Duster is drafted to go to the haunted Osohe Castle by his father Wes to find the Egg of Light. Duster purchases the Rope Snake to help him cross gaps in the castle. Along the way, Duster and Wes meet Kumatora. After they stop several of the Pig Mask Army soldiers, the trio is flushed out of the castle and Duster loses his memory. He joins the musical group DCMC as their bassist. In Duster's absence, the Pig Mask Army moves into Tazumili Village and, with the help of Yokuba and his abused monkey Salsa, they help modernize the town with new infrastructure and "happiness boxes," which are like TV's. They use the happiness boxes primarily to corrupt them and make their job of establishing authority easier. Salsa is ultimately rescued by Kumatora, Wes, and Lucas. Wes eventually gets wind of Duster's whereabouts and asks Lucas to confirm the rumors that he has joined DCMC and to respond via homing pigeon. With the help of Kumatora (disguised as a waitress), Lucas and Boney find Duster and the four set off together to Thunder Tower. After shutting down the tower, Yokuba appears to try to stop them, but falls from the tower. Shortly after, an aircraft comes with the Masked Man inside. Duster grabs the craft with the Rope Snake and the party clings for dear life as the ship flies away. The Rope Snake cannot hold forever though, and the party falls from the aircraft. Lucas awakes in a field full of sunflowers. After finding Boney, he sees figments of his mother, Hinawa. After chasing her off the edge of a cliff, he falls back down to Tazumili Village, where Wes and Alec bring him home and help him get well. After rescuing the Magypsy Ionia, Lucas and Boney find out about the Seven Needles. Pulling the Seven Needles will release a seal on a dragon sleeping below the islands, which inherently possesses massive power. In the wrong hands it could destroy the islands, while it could heal the world in good hands. The party races against the Pig Mask Army to activate the needles. Lucas and Boney soon find themselves in a genetic-engineering laboratory where Dr. Andonuts works. However, the most dangerous of their creations, The Ultimate Chimera, has been set loose. After fleeing from the beast, they discover Salsa and his girlfriend trying to escape the lab. Salsa, remembering how Lucas helped save him from Yokuba, deactivates The Ultimate Chimera, and helps him escape. With the help of Dr. Andonuts, Lucas drains the lake with one of the Needles in it and finds Kumatora. After returning to Tazumili Village, the party enters a volcano, where another Needle is guarded by a rebuilt Yokuba, now sporting trumpets as weaponry. After defeating him, Lucas and company move on to an occupied Saturn Valley where the Mr. Saturns, Duster, and Rope Snake are being held prisoner by the Pig Army. With the help of the Mr. Saturns, the reunited party uses a flock of birds to eventually return to Tatsumairi Village and enter the ocean. After emerging, Lucas, Boney, Duster, and Kumatora are low on energy and decide to eat some strange-looking mushrooms. Boney opts out, leaving the human party members to experience a drug-induced hallucination in the jungle. Eventually the party makes its way to the next Magypsy, Mixolydia ("Missy" for short), and Needle and are ferried back to Tazumili Village on the back of an Octopus. Using the Delicious Pickle Missy left them, Lucas and friends get to Ionia's house where they acquire the Water of Time so they can get into the temple nearby. At the temple, they meet the Masked Man. He is defeated and flies away, leaving Lucas to pull the next Needle as Ionia disappears. As they exit the temple, a limousine pulls up, inviting them to "New Pork City". In New Pork city, Lucas and friends go to the movie theater, which shows some of the Pig King's past adversaries (including Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo from EarthBound). A stinkbug gets the attention of Boney and the party chases him into the sewers. Once there, they follow Boney's barks to find Leder, the bell ringer from Tazumili Village. He tells them the long history of their world and the Pig King, including the fact that their islands are a post-apocalyptic utopia and that it exists on the back of a giant sleeping dragon, which is kept asleep by the Needles. The Magypsies were put in place to guard them. On the way out of the sewers, Yokuba attacks again, and is defeated. In the tallest tower in New Pork City, the party makes its way up the floors until they discover a robot that resembles Pokey. They compete with the robot in a few mini-games before moving on to Pokey himself. On top of the tower, they find the Hall of Memories, showcasing many items from Earthbound, before ending up in a long hallway leading to Pokey. In Pokey's room they are attacked by more complete Pokey robots, which are soon destroyed by Duster's ex-bandmates of DCMC. After the townspeople of Tazumili Village enter the room with Dr. Andonuts and Flint, Pokey descends from the vines on the roof to speak to the party. He reveals that the last Needle has been found and challenges Lucas and friend to beat him to it via the express elevator. Lucas, Boney, Kumatora, Duster, and Flint slide down the elevator shaft to a mine-like environment. Flint goes ahead and soon tells Lucas that the Masked Man is actually his brother Claus, who was killed by the Pig Army, then brought back to life as their general. They have been using him because he is the only other one besides Lucas who is capable of pulling the Needles and awakening the dragon. Pokey soon confronts them in a large spider-mech. When he sees he is to be defeated, he calls upon the "Absolutely Safe Capsule" and climbs inside. It seals Pokey inside, and being true to its name, it protects Pokey from all harm. However, Pokey finds that he cannot harm the heroes, either. When the battle ends, Dr. Andonuts reveals that he built the Absolutely Safe Capsule with the specifications that once someone is inside, the machine cannot be opened by anyone, including the person inside of it, and while Pokey is "absolutely safe", he is trapped in the machine forever. Before reaching the final Needle, the Masked Man attacks again in a one-on-one battle with Lucas, who stays safe from his lightning attack thanks to the Franklin Badge. Hinawa pleads with Claus from beyond the grave, trying to get him to stop attacking Lucas, while Flint blocks the effects of the PK Love attack. Eventually, the Masked Man removes his helmet revealing himself as Claus and strikes one final lightning attack at Lucas, resulting in the Franklin Badge deflecting it towards him for one final blow. After Claus collapses, he regains his sense of self and utters a few parting words. Lucas pulls the final needle, and the player is shown a grim outlook of what appears to be the end of the Nowhere Islands. A secret on the final screen of the game, in which the word 'End?' appears, will actually reveal that everybody survives the attack and thank the player for all their help. Unlike the first two games, the focus is no longer on a group of children. Some chapters put completely different characters in the protagonist role. In one chapter the player controls a limping thief named Duster, in another chapter the main character is Salsa, a monkey who is constantly suffering abuse by a rich traveling merchant named Yokuba. The only child character the player gets to control is Lucas, who is about nine to ten years old in the first three chapters and twelve to thirteen years for the remainder of the game. Further controllable characters include Kumatora, a tomboyish princess from a strange middle-aged cowboy and Lucas' father, Flint, and Lucas' dog, Boney. True to the game's slogan "Strange, Funny and Heartrending," Mother 3 sheds the more lighthearted and quirky plot lines of the previous games in favor of a far darker and more emotional story. The plot involves quite a few tragic and saddening events. However, the game still retains many humorous and bizarre elements that are common to the series. Connections to Mother and EarthBound * At the game's climax, the player fights Pokey in a machine very similar to the spider mech he had at the end of EarthBound. * At one point in the game, the player visits a Saturn Valley. It is eventually attacked by the Pig Mask Army. * Dr. Andonuts appears in the game and he is forced to invent things for Pokey and his army. * Later in the game, the player visits areas in New Pork City that contain many references to EarthBound. A theater shows a movie that chronicles Ness and his friends' adventures in EarthBound. Later, the player visits a boat ride that displays many recognizable things from EarthBound. * Many of Mother's enemies that weren't in EarthBound return, such as the Scrapper, Ghost Armor and Titany, make a return in Mother 3. * Much of the soundtrack contains many recognizable songs from Mother and EarthBound. * Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo never appear physically in the game, since Mother 3 takes place 200 years after Ness' time period, although they are referenced many times in the game. Also, a few screenshots of the canceled EarthBound 64 which Mother 3 evolved from may have hinted at Ness' appearance. Another screenshot from EarthBound 64 depicts a devastated Onett, and what appears to be Fourside. * Pokey, who previously appeared in EarthBound, is revealed to be the leader of the Pig Mask Army and the story's true antagonist. * The Franklin Badge from Mother and EarthBound reprises its appearance. * The Putrid Moldy Men from EarthBound appear as enemies in the sewers of New Pork City. * The Ramblin' Evil Mushroom from EarthBound appears as an enemy at the Tatsumairi train track in Chapter 4. * The Violent Roach from EarthBound appears as an enemy in Osohe Castle. * While Starmen do not make an appearance due to the defeat of Giygas in EarthBound, the posture of one of the endgame enemies is considered to be a reference to the series' flagship character. Development Mother 3 was originally announced in 1996 for the Nintendo 64. Development soon moved to the Nintendo 64DD, where it was to be a launch title, but after many delays caused by the inexperience of the development team with the hardware and 3D graphics, it was canceled in August 2000. The project was revived in 2003, now with 2D graphics on the Game Boy Advance. EarthBound 64 was a canceled game that was going to be released for the Nintendo 64 and then on the Nintendo 64DD. Several years later it was revealed that the project had started up again for the Game Boy Advance under the form of Mother 3. Much of the story seems to be based on the information known about EarthBound 64, including the four main characters , and a plot involving a Pig Mask Army, but it is unknown how close the plots are to each other due to the small amounts known about this game. EarthBound 64 was going to be released for the Nintendo 64DD. Developer Benimaru Itoh remarked at E3's 1997 convention that the game would probably utilize the Rumble Pak in battle sequences, but worried that the controller would become too cumbersome for players given the time-consuming nature of role-playing games. Itoh also aimed to allow players to pick several character faces or create new visages with Mario Artist. Shigesato Itoi's team ran into some trouble while developing this game, due to their inexperience with 3D games and the difficulty of developing for Nintendo 64 hardware. The final nail in the coffin, Nintendo 64DD's failure, destroyed all hope for the game. On August 21, 2000, Itoi officially confirmed the game's cancellation. ''Mother 3'' Deluxe Box A limited release version of Mother 3 version was sold in Japan in addition to the basic title. This "Deluxe Box" included a copy of Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance, a Special Edition Game Boy Micro and a Franklin Badge for ¥18,000. Pre-orders began on March 1, 2006, continuing until the release of the game on April 20 of that year. Due to unexpected demand, only a small fraction of the Deluxe Boxes were shipped by the release date of the game. Marketing Beginning in February 2006, lead designer Shigesato Itoi initiated a systematic divulgence of Mother 3 information on the official Mother 3 website. The additions are documented below: * On the week of February 7, the Mother 3 slogan and theme song, "Strange, Funny, Heartrending" and "We miss you ~Love Theme~" respectively, were revealed. * On the week of February 14, the first screenshots of the title were revealed and a special ringtone of the Mother 3 theme song was offered. It is only available in Japan. * On the week of February 21, three additional screenshots were revealed along with the ''Mother 3'' Deluxe Box. * On the week of February 28, screenshots featuring a dungeon area and a typical battle screen were revealed. Itoi also stated that, like the first two Mother games, it would be a typical RPG with traditional RPG elements, but with a unique world and story. Two character names were also revealed to be Flint and Boney. * On the week of March 7, a rendition of the world map was revealed. * On the week of March 14, two more main characters were revealed to be Lucas and Claus, Lucas being the younger twin brother and Claus being the older. Itoi also released Mother 3-themed cell phone backgrounds, but only for those with Japanese phones. * On the week of March 21, Lucas and Claus's family were revealed to be their father Flint, their mother Hinawa, and their dog Boney. * On the week of March 28, the sprites of 14 enemies were presented, and two computer wallpapers, one with the world map and another with Boney the dog walking through a grass background. * On the week of April 4, various screenshots of many locations were revealed. * On the week of April 10, along with 12 new screenshots, the game is revealed to be setup into different chapters. * On the week of April 18, two days before Mother 3 was released, Itoi released a final message about the game. This information, which was rationed out on a weekly basis until the April 20 release date, can be found at the official Mother 3 website. Demand for an international release Since the original, scrapped, Nintendo 64 version's announcement in 1996, many fans of the Mother series have been pleading for Mother 3 to be given a global release. A cult following has formed around the franchise, and many petitions and demands have been made towards Nintendo of America; however, there do not appear to be any plans to release Mother 3 in North America. Rumors in the August 2006 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly suggested the possibility that Nintendo may compile all three Mother titles onto one Nintendo DS cart, and could possibly be released in North America and Europe. In November of 2006, NintendoWorldReport.com interviewed Nate Bihldorff, the Nintendo of America Localization Producer/Manager, about the localization process he and his team must go through for a video game. When NintendoWorldReport.com mentioned Mother 3, Bihldorff stated that he and his team were not working on Mother 3. However, he does mention some of his writers are not under him, so discussions of the game may be going on. He also mentions that he does not plan on working on it in the immediate future. :"No, me personally, I'm not working on Mother 3. I don't have all the writers under me, so there may be other people in discussions going on with it, but I wouldn't look forward to it in the immediate future, no. Sorry, I know! There's a big Mother fanbase, there is. At least everyone can go back and play Melee to get your Ness on. Laughs" ~ Nate Bihldorff Because no official translation has been announced, a fan translation has been started and is fairly far along. However, the people involved in this translation have said that if Nintendo announces an official translation, they will immediately cease their work, indicating that their sole goal is to ensure that the game is translated to English. In May 2008, the original EarthBound was added to the ESRB website, likely to be released for the Virtual Console during the Hanabi Festival. During Hanabi Festivals, Nintendo releases games earlier only available in Japan and North America. Earlier games has been released to hype new games straight before their release, including Super Mario Bros. 3 before Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid before Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, possibly hinting that a forthcoming Europe release is planned. Music Mother 3 has spawned two soundtrack releases. The first, MOTHER3+, was released in Japan on November 2, 2006, consisting of arranged songs by the Crazy Ken Band as DCMC, and a vocal track by Taeko Onuki, as well as some songs from previous installments of the series. It was later released in the iTunes Music Store in North America on April 1, 2007, featuring an additional bonus track unavailable on the CD release. The second soundtrack, MOTHER3i, was released on the February 6, 2007 in the iTunes Music Store and Napster in Japan, as well as a few other online music services. On April 1, 2007, it was released in the iTunes Music Store in North America. It contains a different selection of music from the game. It was composed by Shogo Sakai and contains a different selection of music from the game than the MOTHER3+. Songs from the album also appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in their original or remixed form. Reception Famitsu scored Mother 3 with a 35/40, providing the first public review of the game. Australian publication Hyper Magazine gave it 92/100, and the "Hyper Big Rubber Stamp of Approval" (awarded to all games with a score over ninety), and was said to be "One of the best RPG's ever made." Mother 3 sold 205,914 copies in its first 3 days on sale, and 338,382 copies were sold from April 20 to June 25 in Japan. External links * Official website * [http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/spacew99/sokuho/28/soft/mother3/ SpaceWorld 1999: Mother 3] * [http://gameboy.ign.com/objects/550/550272.html Mother 3] at IGN * [http://gba.gamespy.com/gameboy-advance/mother-3/ Mother 3] at GameSpy * [http://www.gamestats.com/objects/550/550272/ Mother 3] at GameStats * [http://mother3.fobby.net/ Mother 3] Translation Project Category: Games developed by HAL Laboratory Category: Games Dr. Andonuts appears in Category: Games Lucas appears in Category: Games Pokey Minch appears in Category: Japan exclusive video games Category: Mother 3 Category: Mother games Category: Nintendo games